GAME 27
Duquesne (16-10 | 6-7 A-10) at Fordham (10-16 | 4-9 A-10)
Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 | 8:30 p.m.
Bronx, N.Y. | Rose Hill Gym (3,200)
 
TV: ESPN2 with Mike Corey & Dalen Cuff
Radio: 104.7 HD2 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Tad Maurey
 
Game Notes | Record Book | Media Center | TV/Radio Spotter Chart | Watch | Listen | Live Stats
 
Opening Tip
 
- The Duquesne University men's basketball team, winners of seven of nine since an 0-5 start to Atlantic 10 action, travels to the Bronx, N.Y., Friday, Feb. 23, for an 8:30 p.m. tip against Fordham at Rose Hill Gym.
 
- Senior guard Dae Dae Grant led four Dukes in double figures with his third effort of the 2023-24 season eclipsing the 30-point plateau with a game-high 31 points in an 81-66 victory over Saint Louis at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Grant shot 10-for-19 from the floor, including 6-for-13 from beyond the arc, while going 5-for-5 at the free-throw line.
 
- Senior guard Jimmy Clark III added 19 points and seven assists while tying a career high with six steals in the triumph over the Billikens. Also scoring in double figures for Duquesne against Saint Louis were guard Jake DiMichele (11) and forward Tre Williams (10).
 
- Over their last nine games, the Dukes are holding opponents to an average of 64.2 points per game.
 
- Forward Tre Williams is just five points shy of 1,000 for his career entering Friday's game at Fordham. Williams has shot 49.5 percent (424-for-856) during his NCAA Division I career, including 46.4 percent (233-for-502) in two seasons at Duquesne.
 
- Guard Jimmy Clark III has scored 924 career points at the NCAA Division I level entering Friday's game at Fordham, including 794 in two seasons with the Dukes, and also needs 12 steals to crack the top 10 in program history for thefts, as Andy Sisinni (1981-84) currently ranks 10th with 148.
 
- When holding opponents to less than 70 points in seven years under head coach Keith Dambrot, Duquesne has posted a record of 68-17 (.800), including a 12-1 (.923) mark during the 2023-24 campaign.
 
- Duquesne returns home after taking on the Rams, hosting La Salle Wednesday, Feb. 28, in a 7:00 p.m. tip at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. 
 
Scouting the Rams – Friday marks the 50th game in an all-time series that dates to Dec. 22, 1949, with Duquesne owning a 29-20 (.592) edge. The Dukes won six consecutive games in the series before Fordham earned a 72-71 win at Rose Hill Gym in January of 2022. The six-game win streak matched the longest by either team in the series. Eight of the past 11 meetings between the two programs have been single-digit affairs, with three of the past nine decided by three points or less. This is the ninth consecutive season the two are playing home-and-home during the regular season. Duquesne snapped a four-game slide against Fordham in the opening game of the 2023-24 season series thanks to a 68-59 win at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The Dukes used a 10-1 run to turn a 47-44 deficit into a 54-48 lead with 4:48 to go. Freshman guard Jake DiMichele paced the Dukes with a career-high 15 points in the win, while forward David Dixon and guard Jimmy Clark III each scored 12 points.
 
Head Coach Keith Dambrot (Seventh Year at Duquesne | 26th Year Overall) – Keith Dambrot, who built Akron into one of the most successful - and most respected - programs in the Mid-American Conference over 13 seasons, was named head men's basketball coach at Duquesne University on March 28, 2017. The veteran coach wasted no time making an impact on the DU program with 65 wins in his first four seasons. He became just the fourth head coach in program history to reach 100 victories thanks to a 95-47 win over Cleary, and his two 20-win seasons - in just six years - are tied for the third-most in program history. Dambrot reached a significant career milestone on Feb. 8, 2023 when he posted his 500th career victory with a 75-52 triumph over George Mason. Dambrot owns an overall record of 520-303 (.632) during his career as a head coach, and his father, Sid, was part of Duquesne teams that finished ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 in 1952 (No. 4), 1953 (No. 9) and 1954 (No. 5). The 1954 team, which went 26-3, made it to No. 1 in the AP poll for two weeks in February of 1954. The Dukes played in both the NCAA tournament and NIT in 1952 and the NIT in both 1953 and 1954.
 
Saint Louis Leftovers – Duquesne snapped a two-game slide against the Billikens in grabbing an 18-17 (.514) edge in the all-time series ... The 15-point victory is the largest against an Atlantic 10 opponent for the Dukes this season and it also marked the second wire-to-wire win of the year for Duquesne (Cleary, Dec. 30) ... Saint Louis shot just 33.3 percent (10-for-30) in the first half and overall finished 24-for-58 (41.4%) ... The two teams tied in points in the paint, 28-28 ... Duquesne received its highest point total of the 2023-24 season in fast break points (30), while the eight points from its reserves marks its lowest output of the year ... Forward Dusan Mahorcic scored six points in 10 minutes off the bench, finishing 2-for-3 from the field and knocking down both of his shots at the free-throw line ... Four Billikens finished in double figures, led by Terrence Hargrove, Jr., with 17 points ... The Dukes hit their first 10 attempts at the free-throw line and finished 16-for-19 (84.2%) ... In the two-game homestand Duquesne was successful on 84.4 percent (27-for-32) of its shots at the stripe.
 
30/30/30 – Senior guard Dae Dae Grant led the Dukes in an 81-66 victory over Saint Louis with 31 points, eclipsing the 30-point plateau for the third time this season. Now owning the last 30-point performance by a Duquesne student-athlete at home, on the road (at Rhode Island) and on a neutral court (vs. Santa Clara at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.), Grant is the first member of the Dukes to have at least three games scoring 30 or more points in a season since Aaron Jackson (2006-09) during the 2008-09 campaign. That year Jackson scored 36 at Radford and 30 at home against Charlotte before dropping 46 at Virginia Tech in the first round of the 2009 National Invitation Tournament (NIT). The last player for Duquesne to score 30 or more in a game four times during a season was James Hargrove, Jr., in 1991-92.
 
Did You Know? The Dukes are 8-0 this season when first to reach 70 points against an opponent and have won 27 consecutive games when turning the trick. In seven seasons under head coach Keith Dambrot, Duquesne is 71-7 (.910) when hitting the 70-point plateau first. 

Chalk Talk – Senior guard Dae Dae Grant has proven to be adept at the free-throw line during his career, and those numbers have only been amplified in his two seasons at Duquesne. Having established a new program record for consecutive free throws (43) made this year, Grant has converted each of his last 36 attempts at the free-throw line over his last 10 games. It marks his third streak of the season hitting at least 20 consecutive free throws. Since the season opener against Cleveland State, where he hit his final three free throws as part of an 8-for-11 performance, Grant has converted 108 of his last 110 chances (98.2%) at the line. Grant enters Friday's game at Fordham leading the Atlantic 10 in free-throw percentage at 95.8 percent (113-for-118), a success rate that also ranks second in NCAA Division I.
 
Where's The Beef? Balance. Elbow. Eyes on target. Follow through. Senior guard Dae Dae Grant has used those mantras to put forth an amazing performance at the free-throw line this season. Grant is averaging 5.13 attempts per game at the stripe in 2023-24 and has recorded nine games this year in which he has finished 5-for-5 or better at the chalk, including a 5-for-5 performance in an 81-66 win over Saint Louis. Grant's best game at the free-throw line came in a 68-59 win over Saint Peter's, when he was a perfect 10-for-10. The Duquesne single-season (91.8%) and career records (87.7%) for free-throw percentage are both held by former guard Rick Suder (1983-86), with Grant in line to break both marks. Grant is shooting 95.8 percent (113-for-118) during the 2023-24 season and owns a career success rate of 91.8 percent (202-for-220) in two seasons with the Dukes.  
 
Close Out – Against Atlantic 10 foes this season, Duquesne leads the conference in three-point field goal percent defense, as opponents own a success rate of 28.2 percent (72-for-255) from deep. In the last eight conference games, a stretch in which the Dukes are 6-2 (.714), opponents have knocked down 26.4 percent (47-for-178) of its attempts from beyond the arc. It's a key reason Duquesne has yielded an average of 67.4 points per game in Atlantic 10 play, which ranks fourth in the circuit. The other four teams to rank in the top five in scoring defense against conference opposition have a combined record of 36-16 (.692). Meanwhile, in the 11 games freshman guard Jake DiMichele has been in the starting lineup, opponents are 66-of-227 (29.1%) from beyond the arc.
 
Eleven – Senior forward Tre Williams registered his first double-figure scoring game of the 2023-24 season in an 81-66 victory over Saint Louis, contributing 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field. He converted each of the first three field goals of the game for the Dukes and became the 11th different student-athlete this season to reach double figures in a contest for Duquesne. Williams enters Friday's game at Fordham with 995 career points during his NCAA Division I career, just five short of 1,000. A career 49.5 percent (424-for-856) shooter from the field, in two seasons with the Dukes Williams has scored 552 points in 76 games (7.3 ppg). He became the second Duquesne student-athlete in as many games to post his first double-figure scoring game of the year, following in the footsteps of Jakub Necas, who scored a career-high 10 points in a 66-56 win over Saint Joseph's. 
 
Clark Griswold – Senior guard Jimmy Clark III put forth one of his most complete games in a Duquesne uniform in an 81-66 victory over Saint Louis, contributing 19 points while also grabbing four rebounds and dishing out a game-high seven assists. Clark III also matched a career high with six steals in the win over the Billikens, marking the third time he has posted six thefts in a game over the last two years. He originally recorded six steals at Massachusetts last season and notched six thefts in a 68-59 win over Saint Peter's earlier this year at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Clark III has registered at least four steals in a game 14 times during his two seasons with the Dukes, including six times this year. Duquesne has posted a 9-5 (.643) record in those contests. Since being held to a season-low four points against Davidson, Clark III enters Friday's game at Fordham averaging 15.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.8 rebounds and 2.8 steals over his last four games while shooting 47.8 percent (22-for-46) from the field, including 44 percent (11-for-25) from beyond the arc.
 
Defensively Speaking – Thanks to an 66-56 win over Saint Joseph's, Duquesne improved to 32-1 (.969) in seven seasons under head coach Keith Dambrot when holding an opponent under 60 points, including 24 consecutive wins dating back to 2019. The only loss for the Dukes under Dambrot when holding an opponent to less than 60 points came against St. Bonaventure, a 51-49 setback at the A.J. Palumbo Center Feb. 6, 2019.
 
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